Softball Headline

No. 2/2 University of Florida won its final game of the Cathedral City Classic, beating UNLV, 5-1, on
Saturday afternoon in Palm Springs, Calif. The Gators (12-2, 0-0 SEC) were led
by sophomore Aja Paculba (Wildomar, Calif.) and junior Francesca Enea
(Woodland Hills, Calif.), who went 2-for-4 and 2-for-3, respectively.

Sophomore Stephanie
Brombacher (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) earned her seventh victory of the season
and she improved to 27-0 in her career. Senior Stacey Nelson got the
save, her first of the season and the 16th of her career.

The Gators
got on the board in the top of the third. Freshman Michelle Moultrie (Jacksonville , Fla.) earned her first career hit in a big way, nailing one to deep right
field. The right fielder could not handle the hard-hit ball and Moultrie used her speed to hustle home for an inside-the-park home run. That got the
Gators going as Paculba followed with a base hit through the left side. Senior
Kim Waleszonia (Fontana, Calif.) bunted her way onto first and a
throwing error by the Rebel third baseman got Paculba to third. Waleszonia
swiped second to move into scoring position. Senior Ali Gardiner (Waccabuc, N.Y.) walked to load the bases and Enea was hit to force in UF’s second run.
Junior Corrie Brooks (Christmas, Fla.) drew a walk to give Florida a 3-0 lead.

UNLV went
to its bullpen to bring in Jessica O’Connor. The freshman righty got the final
two outs of the inning before the Gators could do anymore damage.

With a
three-run lead, Nelson relieved Brombacher in the bottom of the fifth. The
Rebels scored their lone run in the sixth. Marissa Nichols took her base when
she was hit by Nelson to begin the inning. She moved to second on a grounder to
second and to third on a wild pitch. Jaci Hull smoked one to center field that
one-hopped the fence for a ground-rule double and UNLV’s lone RBI.

Florida added two insurance runs in the
top of the seventh. Paculba started things off with a single up the middle.
Waleszonia laid down a sacrifice bunt to move her teammate over. Gardiner
walked for the third time to put runners on first and second. Enea singled up
the middle to score Paculba and move Gardiner to third. Brooks drew a walk to
load the bases and the Rebels went to their bullpen again.

Traci
Odegard came in to try her luck against the Gators. The sophomore threw an
illegal pitch to move all runners up and score Gardiner to give UF its 5-0
lead. Odegard forced sophomore Kristine Priebe (Moorpark, Calif.) to ground into a double play to get out of the jam.

Brombacher
recorded seven K’s while allowing two hits and two walks over 4.0 innings.
Nelson pitched 3.0 innings, striking out two and allowing two hits.

Florida came away with a 4-1 record at the
Cathedral City Classic. The Gators went 3-1 against ranked teams, facing
top-25 teams for the first time this season. Waleszonia led the way with a
.333 average on six hits, two RBI and a triple. Enea went .308 with four hits
and four RBI and Paculba went 4-for-14. Sophomore Megan Bush (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) hit three home runs and added eight RBI to season total, all on
Thursday.

Brombacher
went 3-0, allowing 13 hits and three walks. She did not give up a run in her
16.0 innings. Nelson registered a 1-1 record, allowing 12 hits and four runs
over 19.0 innings. She struck out 20 while Brombacher tallied 15 K’s.

The Gators
return to Gainesville to take on No. 4 Michigan on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m.